


Taste of the Sea

by Emby



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Alternate Universe - Not Human, Ambiguous/Open Ending, Hurt Lance (Voltron), Hurt/Comfort, Kidnapping, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-17
Updated: 2020-01-17
Packaged: 2021-02-27 03:18:46
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,806
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22290154
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Emby/pseuds/Emby
Summary: There's only so much a swimming pool can do for a being of the sea.
Relationships: Hunk/Lance (Voltron)
Kudos: 18





	Taste of the Sea

Its during training that his nightmare begins. Lance sits in a corner trying to change his bayard at will and he thinks he's got it when a tingly feeling sweeps up his body. “Guys! I think I'm doing i-” he chokes as the temperature in the room shoots up to what feels like the actual sun. The exercise long forgotten he begins pulling off his armor in haste not even hearing the confused voices of his teammates. The tingling feeling increases into a burn. Now he knows what this is. 

“F-fuck.” The armor under-suit feels like its constricting and his hands are clumsy as he peels it off sitting only in his boxers. He finally gets a good look at his legs and it's horrifying. Similar to the bottom of a dry lake his flesh looks to be cracking leaking tiny rivulets of blood that smears on the floor.

Lance moves to stand and an agonized groan falls from his lips. Someone tries to lift him up and he whites out from the agony it brings. His hearing comes back in the form of muffled heartbeat in his ears but his vision is blurry. Someone places a water pouch at his lips and with what remaining strength he has left he pull it from his lips and squeezes the rest on his legs and it brings a modicum of relief. “Bring more!” Pidge’s voice says but it's so far away. “The Pool.” Then he's being moved and pain consumes him. It feel like hours before he's being lowered into the cool liquid. 

The moment he’s dumped into the water it’s a blessed relief for just a second. The sensation of his legs reverting back to his tail is never a painless experience this time around however, he screams himself hoarse through the whole thing. He tries dragging his body out of the water that feels like acid eating through his flesh and his body sinks to the pool floor. His throat burns as his gills flutter open inhaling water that never feels right. Even so, he’s better he opens his eyes and sees the blurry image of his friends peering down at him. The Hunk shaped blur puts up an A-ok sign in question. Taking inventory he strokes his gills parts of the slits are still stuck together making it slightly difficult to breathe. He doesn't want to look at his tail but he has to. A quick glance has him exhaling in relief when he sees that his tail is intact albeit missing a few more scales than before. He's also sore the first few strokes into deeper water has him wincing. 

He emerges from the water exhaustion slowing his movements. He rests his head on his arms and senses his teammates still hovering. “Lance, hey what’s going on?” He blinks looking into Hunk’s face. “Stayed out too long. I guess.”  
“But you were here yesterday?” 

He blinks, eyes glassy “Was I? I don’t remember.” Hunk frantically grabs at Lance as he begins slipping back into the pool.  
“Help me!” Hunk cries. Shiro goes to aid him and together they move him to the shallow end. “He's never been like this before and we didn't even have a pool at the Garrison.” 

The terrible thought of whatever this is being a space disease with no cure crosses all of their minds. 

“I don’t want to leave him alone so I'll stay with him tonight.” Hunk doesn't take his eyes off of Lance as he brushes the hair from his face. “Hunk-”Coran starts. 

“I said I'll stay with him.” he snarls glaring at the offender Coran raises his hand in a placating manner “I’ll stay with you if that’s alright.” 

Hunk deflates a little “I'm sorry, I'm just really worried.” Despite how much they're manhandling him, Lance doesn’t stir. His gills flutter weakly and Hunks hands shakes as he separates them where they've stuck together. The water around them turns a pinkish hue, its unsettling.

True to their word, Hunk and Coran stay with him. Coran monitoring his vitals and Hunk keeping him comfortable. “Hunk would you please run to the med bay and grab his baselines?” Hunk looks back at Lance unconscious on the bottom of the pool. “Yeah, of course.” He’s reluctant to leave but he’ll do anything at this point if it meant Lance would get better.  
As the door slides shut Coran curses. “Allura, I don’t want to alarm anyone but we need to head straight to The Frozen Planet.” “Is Lance better?”she asks worry clear in her voice. “I’m afraid not, at this rate the longer he’s out of real sea water he’s quickly going to lose function of his legs and perhaps his tail.” The muscles in his legs have begun to atrophy and with how quickly Lance is deteriorating, Coran believes the longer he’s out, the sooner he’ll lose them. Allura confirms their change in course and Coran only hopes that they're fast enough.

When morning creeps around, Lance does wake up and it's not a gentle awakening but a panicked one. His eyes shoot open and his claws dig into the flesh of Hunks arm as he tries to draw himself out of the water. Coran moves forward to help but Hunk waves him back. “Hey, Lance you’re ok, you're in water breathe with your gills Love.” Lance’s eyes get less wild listening to Hunk’s soothing tone he winces as he breathes, his gills still sore. “You didn’t sleep.” 

“I was worried, you know how I get, are you ready to get out?” Lance takes a moment trying to revert back to legs. His fin spasms and gasps in pain going tense in Hunk’s arms. “Lance!” “This fucking sucks man” Lance breathes his grip tightening on Hunk’s arm. 

“Coran, help me get him out.” They struggle as they pull him from the water but even when Lance is finally on solid ground his eyes are clenched shut and his body vibrates in pain. “Lance, I know it hurts but can you tell me what you’re feeling?” Coran squeezes his hand and Lance squeezes hard. “Hurts.” is all he can get out. “Princess what’s our ETA?” Her voice comes over the intercom paired with a sigh of relief “We’re here.” 

Hunk’s head whips to the intercom and back to Coran. “What do you mean, where is here?” Coran glances at Lance and even his breathing sounds pained. “He is not getting better Hunk,and he was quickly deteriorating. Neither I nor the princess have any idea as to what this is so right now the only thing we can try is a real ocean.” 

The planet is still thawing but portions of it has thawed enough to not immediately freeze Lance’s body. If they weren’t focused on saving Lance’s limbs they would have appreciated their influence on the planet. The ecosystem had shifted and a port had opened up allowing travel to the previously frozen planet. The warm beach they’ve landed on is beautiful but nobody notices it as they rush to get him into the water. 

The first touch of the sea Lance gasps and seemingly possessed he thrashes in Hunk and Shiro’s arms trying to pull himself into deeper water. “Let him go, just set him down.” Coran says gently setting a hand on Hunk’s shoulder. His heart aches to see the man he loves desperately clawing his way into the water. He hopes that this is all he needs and he’ll get better. 

“He won’t be able to talk to us while he’s down there.” 

Lance doesn’t remember getting to the ocean, it has been a blur of pain since he woke up but now, it’s the first time in a long time that he’s finally free. That he can breathe ocean again and it takes some getting used to. The fake salinity of the Castle Ship pool was nothing compared to this. He floats concentrating on breathing and regaining feeling in his fin. 

That’s the thing about being so far underwater. Without his helmet, communications were basically worthless and even if he had comms, he was underwater so his words would just come out garbled. He’s not sure how long he floats but it’s long enough for instincts to take over and before he knows it he’s gulping down a small school of fish. Hopefully they aren't poisonous.

He pokes his head above water and the beach is so far away. As much as he wants to swim back and let them know he’s alright the thought of going near land grates at him. He decides to explore for a little while longer and maybe check out the new docks scattered nearby.  
The sea here is so different from the one at home, weird sea-life, weird plants that (sorry earth), tastes better. He gets lost in the sensations of the currents sweeping him along but he doesn’t let it take him too far.

Thank Goodness the Castle Ship was so big he knows which direction to begin swimming in. its not his fault that he gets distracted investigating the crablike creatures that doesn’t notice the net sweeping in his direction.

He flops on a ship’s deck struggling to breathe for just a moment before a blunt object hits his head and he knows no more.  
~

Trapped in his new cage, he has all the time to think about how to fix underwater communications.

~

Lance isn’t being well taken care of the tank is filthy and he hasn’t been fed. The novelty of a fish person wore off after the first few months. So his captor is getting less traffic which means less money “I paid so much money for a worthless fish.” Olloway punctuates the statement with a fist to the glass. Lance doesn’t move, how can he?

He hasn’t eaten in days and there's a grimy algae film covering his view outside . He’s going to die here, he’s going to die choking on filthy water with a hole in his gut from where he is stomach chewed right through.

He lies at the bottom of the narrow tank counting the bubbles as they rise to the top. He wishes he could see his family one last time. He wishes he could see Shiro, Pidge, Keith, Allura, Coran, his breath hitches Oh.. wishes do come true even if it's just a hallucination. 

He sees Hunk’s face pressed against the glass and he smiles. “ My love, see you on the other side. “ He waves at the apparitions panicked face before he can no longer keep his eyes open. The vibrations of a fist hitting the glass is the last thing he feels.

Heaven must be in his mother’s arms. She’s holding him swimming in circles humming that same lullaby. He smiles, and he sleeps.

**Author's Note:**

> Ok, I say amiguous/open end because it seasons the angst to make it taste better but I hate killing characters even if they actually die canon. But if I say that Lance's mom hops in her ship and finds him because her mom sense was tingling so badly would you believe me?  
> Find me on tumblr:[ QualityQuill. ](https://QualityQuill.tumblr.com)


End file.
